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Tom O'Brien of St. Augustine, Florida, is spending several weeks in the Sebago Lakes Region and headed out on a 25-foot pontoon boat with six others on board, including several children when a thunderstorm rolled in July 2.

"The weather came on us really quickly, very quick, I mean like in a snap, in a snap. Because where we were you could see the weather it was around the corner. Then when we made it to the opening, just about before the opening, all of a sudden the winds were coming, they were just intense, the top was acting like a sail, the canopy was, it was pretty intense," said O'Brien.

O'Brien was on Sebago Lake in the area of Frye's Leap. O'Brien turned the boat around and headed for shore, but he said the weather changed dramatically. His boat was nearly capsized and was taking on large amounts of water.

"Everybody stayed calm, everybody listened to me and we got through it," said O'Brien.

O'Brien said he was able to keep the boat from tipping over. The Maine Warden Service says boaters should be extra mindful of the weather conditions and weather reports. O'Brien admits he's more familiar with the ocean and boating in Florida, but he did learn a valuable lesson when it comes to boating in Maine.

"I got the Weather Channel on my phone for this area," said O'Brien.

Officials said boaters should always have the proper safety devices on board as well as a cell phone and a radio, in the event they need to call for help.

Sebago Lake is the second largest lake in Maine, behind Moosehead Lake. It is 47 square miles, and in the widest sections of the lake it can be six miles across, according to game wardens.

"Looking at it now it scares me more than it did while I was there. I really wasn't scared, I was more concerned for the passengers. Now I look at it and go, 'Was I crazy? What happened here?' It just came on so fast," said O'Brien.

O'Brien said he's confident he made the right decisions given the circumstances.

"If I had turned and went to shore, the boat would have rolled. I'm 100 percent positive of that. So you had to stay either with the waves to you or the waves behind you and kind of surf the boat on the waves and deal with them as the waves come down. That's what I was doing, and I picked the closest possibility to shore without rolling the boat," said O'Brien.